Annville-Cleona s Dalton Himmelberger goes for the pin against Donegal s Jonathan Morales during their 138-pound bout on Thursday night. Himmelberger was successful in scoring the pinfall, but A-C couldn t get past Donegal in the team match, falling 38-30. (LEBANON DAILY NEWS JEREMY LONG)
ANNVILLE - Bonus points are a major component to any wrestling match, something the Annville-Cleona Little Dutchmen found out first hand in a 38-30 loss to Donegal on Thursday night.

The Little Dutchmen won six of 14 bouts on the evening, three by forfeit, another by fall, and two by decision. Meanwhile, the Indians won eight bouts, four by fall, two by major decision and two by decision.

"We knew it was going to be (about) getting bonus points and we didn't get them," said Annville-Cleona head coach Mike Miller after the loss, which effectively eliminated his team from Section Three title contention. The Little Dutchmen opened the match with a decision at 113 pounds, as Matt Darok picked up a big 6-2 victory over the Indians' Jacob Zeigler.

In the ensuing 120-pound matchup Donegal's Darren Miller pinned Orlando Bellaman for the first of the crucial bonus points at 3:49.

A-C senior Phil Corle got his team even at six with a 3-1 decision over Taylor Johnson at 126-pounds, but at 132 pounds in a crucial swing match, Dylan Himmelberger came out on the short end of a 12-7 loss to Lucas May in which he led 7-6 entering the third period. After that, A-C went ahead 18-9 on a pin by Dalton Himmelberger at 138 pounds over Jonathan Morales and Jeffrey Inman's forfeit victory at 145.

Then, at 152 pounds the Donegal streak of six wins in the next seven bouts began with an 18-5 major decision by Caleb Thomas over Tanis Pelligrini. The streak was interrupted

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momentarily by Justin Ulrich's forfeit victory at 160-pounds, but from there the Indians' upper-weights completely took over facing a 24-13 deficit.

"I didn't think we were real aggressive," said Miller on what swung the momentum in the match. "We sat back a lot."

At 170 pounds, Connor Maxwell pulled out an 11-1 major decision to make it 24-17. That was followed by Barry Sauder's 30-second fall over Anthony Lehman at 182 pounds.

A-C's Brandon Light at 195-pounds put a scare into

Annville-Cleona s Anthony Lehman (right) battles Donegal s Barry Sauder at 182 pounds on Thursday night in a Section Three matchup in Annville. Sauder eventually scored the pin to help Donegal to a 38-30 victory. (LEBANON DAILY NEWS JEREMY LONG)
Donegal stud Dylan Maxwell, putting him to his back before Maxwell turned the tables for a pin in 2:50.

The streak ended at 220 and 285 when Ben Ross took a 4-1 decision over Kole Orfino and Mason McCoy decked Austin Meyer to make it 38-24, effectively clinching the victory before Josh Renninger received a forfeit at 106 pounds to end the match.

"For whatever reason, I don't know, we didn't quite show the fire we've had in the past," said Miller on the loss. "It looked like a different team from Tuesday's match. Sometimes it's just matchups; where you match up, who you match up with. It's just a tough one to swallow."

The loss drops Annville-Cleona to 11-5 overall, 3-2 in Lancaster-Lebanon Section Three, while the win propels the Indians to 3-7 overall, 2-2 in L-L Three.

"We gotta get over it quick," said Miller, when asked about moving forward. "We have five tough matches at Bishop McDevitt this weekend. We gotta get over it quick, can't dwell on it and we gotta correct some stuff in practice tomorrow. We gotta be quick learners."

"We gotta get a little more fire in some of these places. We gotta wrestle tougher, smarter."